CB Byron Jones
(What’s the mood been like? Is it easy for disappointment to set in? Not depression – that overstates it. But is there a sadness, a melancholy at all?) – “No there’s actually a really good pop and a sense of focus and a sense of urgency to get it right. I think we all understand how hard it is to be in this position, just to be an NFL player, and we’re not trying to squander this opportunity so the sense of urgency is very high. It’s actually nice to see.”
(How do you feel like your season has gone?) – “Mine personally? I don’t think anyone can say that they feel good about anything at this point. As a team we’re not performing well and usually when you don’t have team success, individual success is not following either. So yeah, we’re still trying to turn everything around.”
(Is there any sense of surprise that it’s gone this way given what you thought of this team in the offseason and where you guys were?) – “Yeah, no one ever comes into the season and thinks you’re going to have a six-game losing streak at all. I think we understand what our issues are and now it’s about correcting those. It’s no easy task, but that’s a challenge that we all accept as NFL and professional players. So no, no one envisioned this. We didn’t want this. But let’s dig ourselves out. Let’s see what we can do and let’s see what we can shake from this point forward.”
(You said you know what the issues are. What would you define as maybe the biggest issues?) – “Just critical situations. You see flashes of good football, but we make mistakes where it’s just too hard to overcome. We’re putting ourselves in bad positions. It’s all three phases as well. It’s not just one side of the ball. We’re working on that.”
(Switching sports here but in basketball sometimes on an off night, you just need to see the ball go through the hoop. Is there one of those analogies I guess for breaking out of a slump like this?) – “No, you just need to win. You just need to win and we’ve had games where we have tremendous momentum in the game. We’ve got to figure out a way to complete that throughout the finish of the game. I think just winning would cure a lot and just that good feeling and knowing okay, the work we put in in the week, it mattered and now we know how to win. But we’ve got to get that win. No question.”
(When you talk about critical situations, I assume it would very much include Atlanta getting the ball on the 25-yard line at the end there and driving for the field goal. What went wrong there and how frustrating must that drive have been for you?) – “They made a really incredible throw and an incredible catch on the sideline. And those are the situations we’re talking about because there are 20, 30, 40 seconds left before the half and we’ve got to find a way to get off the field. There’s no way that they should be able to drive that many yards down the field so we’re getting that cleaned up. No question.”
(You talk about just getting a win and maybe that would be the first step in the right direction. Is there any added excitement when you’re going up against a team like Buffalo who you guys have struggled against and it’s just kind of another team, but it’s not another team to get a win over anyway?) – “For us honestly, any team that we’re going against, we’re all excited. You only get so few opportunities. It’s an incredible challenge this team coming in – or going to them. They have good receivers, good quarterback, a good running game, have a great defense, good coaches. So we like those challenges. That’s fun for us. We see a really good opponent in front of us and we see an opportunity to win. That’s why we’re going out there. We’re going out there to get a win.”
(How do you think the secondary has fared in instances of playing man versus when you change to zone?) – “It’s tough to say, but we watched our third-down tape – I’d say probably two or three weeks ago – and the one thing that I saw – all the third downs that we’ve given up this season – and a lot of it was guys weren’t out of position, nothing like that but we just need to finish at the point of attack. We’re covering but in terms of getting the ball out or getting another interception or changing a PBU to an interception and stuff like that, I think we could do a better job of, especially in man coverage because we are a defense that’s predicated on playing man. No question.”
(Last year you guys had obviously a lot of success and obviously it’s a different year but do you see anything teams are doing or figuring out differently about your defense that maybe…) – “Honestly, I just look inward. I think it’s about us, to be honest. Like I said, when we saw our third-down clips it was a lot of great coverage and good positioning. It’s just about getting the ball at that point. You get a couple of third downs in a game and that changes the course of a game. You give the ball back to the offense immediately. So finishing those drives and getting their offense – even when their offense gets the ball in the red zone, not letting them score as opposed to – not letting them get seven points as opposed to just kicking a field goal. I think that also is a momentum shift for us as well, too. I think it’s just what we’re doing. I don’t look at teams and say they’re scheming us up in a specific way because they were doing the same thing last year, to be honest. We’ve just got to finish those close calls, 50/50 balls.”
(Any time you play a quarterback like Bills QB Josh Allen – his caliber – it seems like disguising coverage is tough, we come up with a lot. So your experience as a cornerback and safety in this league, what’s the different roles in terms of how you disguise coverage for a cornerback compared to a safety?) – “It’s all got to be married together so the corners can’t be doing something different than the safety. If you want to show Cover 2, it’s not just the corners and it’s not just the safeties and in fact it’s also the linebackers, too. It’s where they align, some of their checks and what their calls may be. Disguising is really a whole secondary thing and oftentimes it does include the linebackers, so it’s not one group doing one thing. It’s really all of us operating on the same level in unison.”
(Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer has been very hard on himself in sessions with us saying he needs to do a better job to put you guys in position. Has there been any sort of sessions with Josh where he’s solicited ideas from his veteran leaders like you and DE Emmanuel Ogbah, CB Xavien Howard and others about things you could be doing without giving away what those are, has there been a session like that?) – “I think Josh (Boyer) is smart enough without our input. I think he understands exactly what we need to be in and what his best coverages are and what best suits us. He can be hard on himself, but I always look at the players. You’re never going to get the perfect call in a situation. It’s really up to us to execute it and sometimes we haven’t, as players, been the best at doing that. I love the fact that everyone is taking accountability and ownership, but I’d like to do the same as well. I’m not going to point fingers at him. It’s definitely us.”
(As cornerbacks playing through some injury, is it easier, more comfortable to stay in zone as opposed to in man where you’re sprinting more often?) – “No, I’m healthy. I’m healthy. I’ve been healthy since Day 1 so no issues there.”
(Sometimes when you see teams going through a lull like this, they have meetings where they’re player-led or team-led to get on the same page. Have you guys had that or felt a need to do that?) – “That’s confidential.”Christian Wilkins – October 27, 2021 Download PDF version
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
DT Christian Wilkins
(Obviously the gap in score the last two Bills games have been pretty lopsided. Do you all look at that and say it shouldn’t be this way, our teams are closer or comparable in talent than what the score reflects?) – “You really just have to take each game game-by-game. You can’t really think about that. Obviously, the last two times we played them, they were the better team that day. We just have to focus on this game and the task at hand, which is following the game plan, working hard, studying hard and just prepare as best as possible so we get a good result Sunday.”
(I wanted to ask you about DE Emmanuel Ogbah. What has stood out to you about what he has been doing this season and also since his arrival?) – “I love having Ogbah around. He’s a great teammate. He’s the vet in our room. Sometimes he sees things that we don’t see or just always helps us in all the ways he can. He just loves to compete, loves to play. He always plays hard, runs after the ball. Great get off, ability to pass rush and he’s strong in the run game. Whether he’s on the edge or inside, he does a really good job for us.”
(I know it’s been a few weeks but how much does that first loss against Buffalo still stick in guys’ minds?) – “Again, that was so long ago you don’t really – like I was saying earlier, you don’t really try to think about that. You focus on this week because they’re a different team than they were then and we’re a different team too. You just got to have the right approach – a week-by-week basis, don’t really think about the past and just focus on the present and what we’ve got to do this week.”
(In what ways do you think that your defense has gotten better since that first meeting?) – “I feel like the obvious one is that we got better at defending the run. We’ve been able to do a pretty good job the last few weeks, which is important. That’s obviously the big one. We just try to improve each and every day, each and every week. It’s not ever going to be a perfect game but we are going to try to always strive for that each week.”
(I know you’re a high-energy guy. How do you bring that energy and juice when things are going like they have?) – “It’s just a part of me. It’s just a part of who I am. It doesn’t matter whether we’re undefeated or 1-6. You just have to be who you are and that’s important. That’s what you kind of need at this time when things aren’t going as you would want. You need that leadership, you need guys to bring some juice, bring a spark and just really have some fun because this is still just a game. It’s work to us, we love it, we’re passionate about it,but it’s still a game so I’m always going to have fun playing this game.”
(Do you still see guys having fun each week?) – I feel like there’s definitely still great energy around the facility and around the building. Guys just come in still every day with the right mindset and just want to get better and want to keep striving to be our best.”
(On the subject of fun, an incredible oversight but last week we forgot to ask you how much pleasure you got out of seeing Head Coach Brian Flores in a Clemson shirt?) – “It’s just good to know you have someone who likes to keep his word and pay their debts. That’s good. That was kind of fun for a second. I got a chuckle out of that.”
(We’ve seen your production in terms of the counting stats tick up this year and last week I talked to DT Zach Sieler on some of the stuff you worked on. He mentioned your hands. I’m curious how just what you do with your hands correlates to that uptick in production this season?) – “I recognize that as an area for me to improve on. All offseason, just countless reps of shooting my hands, inside hands, doing grip things to make my hands stronger because that’s important as a d-lineman. Really, hands and eyes go together so seeing my hands in, shooting at my target and being strong at the point of attack, that’s something I’ve just tried to improve on all offseason and continue to try to improve on each week during the season.”
(Since the last time you played the Bills, they moved OT Daryl Williams into guard. Do you notice a difference, besides personnel, in productivity or anything in what that group looks like with him inside?) – “Not so much of a difference there in anything I notice but it does present a different challenge where I’m used to one guy being in there but now, they kind of switch it up. At the end of the day, if I just play with the techniques and the fundamentals I’m taught, we should be fine there. It definitely is a little bit of a switch up and a little bit of a different look than I’m used to.”
(How much are you guys emphasizing getting off to a fast start?) – “That’s always important. We stress that each week regardless of the opponent and regardless of the game, it’s always important to start fast and finish fast. If we can do that and keep that momentum and start fast and keep going, it’ll put us in hopefully a good enough position to carry it out, get on the right end of things this week.”
(I know it’s the coaches’ job to point out mistakes on tape but how much have the coordinators and Head Coach Brian Flores been in terms of trying to stay positive and upbeat so that the group doesn’t get down at 1-6?) – “Like I said, there’s still been good energy around the building. Everybody – not just players, coaches – everybody just still trying. It’s easy to start going off the rails and things like that but there’s still a lot in front of us and we are just trying to get better each week.”
(A lot of times when you go through a losing streak, you see the players will lead a meeting and get everybody together. Have you felt the need to or done that so far this year?) – “Well, I’m going to keep that between us whether we’ve done that or not or if that’s something we – I’ll just leave that between us. But again, like I kind of was saying earlier, we’ve got good leadership on this team and guys who want to win and guys who played a lot of ball in this league. We’re trying to just figure things out to do whatever it takes to get on the right side of things.”
DT Raekwon Davis
(How do you feel since you’ve came back from the knee?) – “Still a little rusty. Still trying to get back a little bit. Still trying to get my conditioning up. I still get a little winded out there, here and there.”
(How disappointing was it for you to have the injury. I know you put in a lot of work this offseason, lifting a lot of weight. For you to kind of start not playing, how does it feel to be back now?) – “Just being on the sideline, it gets depressing sometimes. But I’m happy to be back with the guys, just to be out there with them.”
(I saw you playing some 5-tech on Sunday. I’m curious when you try to rush a guard or center versus a tackle, how does that kind of change your approach?) – “It’s just rushing. What do you want – for me to break it down like (Defensive Line) Coach (Austin) Clark to you? (laughter) The tackle go out, go back to the guard. I don’t know what you’re looking for. (laughter) But it’s just rushing. I’m just trying to get a good rush in, do my best move, go with my best move basically.”
(What have you guys been able to do differently over these past two weeks? It’s the first games all season where you’ve held opponents under 100 rushing yards.) – “Just try to put the best player in the best position basically. That’s about it for us.”
(You missed the first meeting with the Bills due to injury right? When you watch the film of that game, what’s something that you noticed in the area of run defense that the group you think can do better or differently?) – “Just being on the same page. Just communicating and just playing our game.”
G/T Robert Hunt
(Did you go with the pirate outfit? Tell me about your outfit choice, what you thought of it and how you landed on that.) – “So I came in and did my regular deal on Tuesdays, on off days. I came in and did my regular deal and then I come to my locker, and they have me like three pirate outfits. So I just chose the best one for me and that’s the one I went with.”
(DT Zach Sieler was a pirate as well.) – “Yeah, he was. So we were pirate buddies yesterday. (laughter)”
(Who wore it better?) – “I think Zach. I’ll give it to Zach. I’ll be the bigger man.”
(It’s been now seven games at guard. Do you know yet whether you’re a better NFL guard than tackle? Do you think you’re equally good at both? Better at one than the other?) – “I don’t think I’m where I want to be overall, as a player yet, up to my standard. I don’t think I’m where I want to be yet. I think I can play both positions. It’s up to me how I do it and when I do it. I think I’ve got to keep working and being consistent. It’s the small things I need to work on. That comes with reps. That comes with game-time reps, that comes with practice reps, that comes with a lot of stuff. I’m just trying to take it one day at a time, one practice at a time and get better at the position I’m playing right now, which is guard.”
(Through seven games, are you happier with your run blocking or pass protection?) – “Both can be improved, I think. I wouldn’t pick one. I think I’ve done some good things at both, if I’m being honest. But there are definitely some things I can improve on. A lot things.”
(Last week, you had one of the best running productions that you’ve had all year. Sack-wise, the sacks are way down the past couple of weeks. What are you seeing out of this offensive line now?) – “I think we come in and we all want to be better. I think we come in, we work well together, we come in and we meet, we see what we see, we talk it out as a group. I think the quarterback is helping – Tua (Tagovailoa) is getting the ball out quick. I think everything is just kind of meshing together. The running backs are finding the holes. We’re getting a little push. Everything is kind of going in with each other. That’s good for us, but we‘ve got a lot of stuff to continue to work on because we’re not where we want to be yet.
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(You do a good job of compartmentalizing and blocking out all of the trade stuff the last couple of weeks. Probably there are a lot of Dolphins fans out there and media members in this room too, who wonder on a daily basis who will be the Dolphins quarterback a week from now – you or QB Deshaun Watson. Just from a human nature standpoint, does that thought ever come into your mind? Do you think about it daily? Do you think about it ever?) – “(laughter) I really don’t think about it. The only time I’m really hearing about it, like I’ve said before, is if (the communications staff) is kind of telling me what’s going on within the rumors or if my agent calls me. That’s really when I hear it. Other than that, I don’t really hear it.”
(Do Chris Cabott or Leigh Steinberg call you every time they see a rumor to tell you? Or do they just let you find it out on your own?) – “No. It needs to be – it can’t be just a rumor that I just hear it once and they’re calling me because I’m not going to pick up the next five or six times. It has to be very much relatable.”
(Would you want the team to come out and say something to extinguish that fire so you don’t have to hear it from anyone?) – “Well for me, I don’t have control over any of that. For me, I’m just focused on the guys in the building and with my teammates. We don’t really have time, as professionals I would say, to be thinking of a lot of the outside noise while we’re preparing day in and day out for opponents like we have right now in the Bills.”
(Four touchdowns in the game on Sunday. Obviously one of the best performances of your career. I know you’re probably upset about the two picks but looking back on the film, what did you like about your performance and how do you hope to build on that this week?) – “It’s hard to look at what I like just because we are always looking to build off of the mistakes that we’ve made offensively. Then for me, capitalizing on situational football with the end of the half and two-minute. Then obviously the interception – the second interception that I threw – after a momentum changer with the defense getting us the ball back. It’s just something that you’ve got to learn from. You never know which play is going to be the play that wins you a game. So by eliminating those mistakes, I felt I could have put our team in a better position.”
(Do you feel like after the performance that you guys built a little bit of momentum offensively, just in terms of your efficiency and ability to push the ball down the field?) – “Yeah. I just think it’s tough to play that kind of football. It’s hard in this league already to just play it. But to come down from 14- or 13-point deficit – it’s tough. Then you continue to put the defense in a tough situation as well. We’ve got to try to play complementary football is what I can say.”
(Hearing all of the outside noise but then also your internal conversations you’ve said you’ve had with Head Coach Brian Flores, do you feel wanted in this organization?) – “I don’t not feel wanted. (laughter) That’s what I could say. (laughter)”
(A minute ago you mentioned you don’t focus on the outside talk and I could understand that. But at the same time, for example, the Panthers came out and said ‘We’re not interested in Deshaun Watson.’ If the Dolphins were to say that, would that not make you feel good?) – “Honestly, I don’t base my emotions off of who says anything about me or who is saying what. All I can do is my job and do it to the best of my capabilities. Everything else, I mean it’s out of my control. But I have the utmost confidence and trust that I am the quarterback of this team, just off of conversations that I’ve had with ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and whatnot. That obviously stays between us. But yeah, I feel very confident that I’m the person.”
(What are the voices like in the locker room? What are the guys saying? I know the conversations are private but how have their voices helped you or maybe lifted you up in this situation?) – “Like I said, we don’t have time to really talk about a lot of the outside noise. It’s hard enough being in the National Football League, trying to prepare for a team like the Bills or trying to prepare for any team that we’re up against.”
(The Halloween event last night with the kids, what was that like for you?) – “That was good. Any time you can go out there and make a difference in a kid’s life or within a community – I feel like it’s a better feeling for you than it is for the person. That’s probably bad to say but as good as you want to make them feel, you kind of get something out of that as well.”
(How did you decide on Woody?) – “I didn’t. (laughter) I really didn’t. I just asked for what costumes they had and I just said ‘Well, I guess I’ll just take Woody.’ That’s how I got Woody. (laughter)”
(Head Coach Brian Flores said earlier this week that your 18 months here have been unusual, from the hip injury and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick last year and now this. Do you think it’s been a fair start to your career?) – “I don’t know if I would ever use the word fair because really nothing is fair, especially in the life that we live. For you guys – media – it’s not fair that you guys only get however many minutes with a player. For players, it’s not fair that we only get praised when we’re doing good. Nothing is fair in life. That’s what I can say to that.”
(Will there be a sigh of relief after the trade deadline because that will at least give closure to the rest of this season about who will be the quarterback?) – “(laughter) Honestly, I’m not even worried about that. I don’t even know when the trade deadline is.”
(The last time you played the Bills, that was the game you got hurt, obviously. Is there any sort of emotional barrier to climb when you go back up against that team?) – “No. This is a great opportunity I think for us offensively, to come out and really start fast but keep that consistency throughout the game and really finish strong.”
(You don’t want to be like just stick it to them and be like, ‘I’m back!’) – “Well honestly, I just want to win. I just want to win. That’s really all that is. No matter how we get it done, I just want to win.”
(You’ve improved a lot in the intermediate areas. Your completion percentage and everything has gone up in the intermediate range. Why do you think that is and particularly, how important is ball placement in that area of the field to kind of allow your pass catchers to get yards after the catch?) – “I think our line does a great job of blocking up front and giving me time to allow those passes. I think our receivers, our tight ends, they do a great job with finding the creases and finding openings in the defense and making it that much easier for me to throw the ball to them. It’s really just the timing, the communication and just all of us being on the same page.”
(How do you feel like you are balancing that desire to make something happen versus doing too much with the ball when you kind of have to just live to see another play?) – “My entire career has always been trying to play aggressive, from high school and then also in college. But I would say I’ve learned a lot being in the NFL with playing aggressive whereas you’re doing too much and then kind of playing aggressive and being smart with that. Unfortunately, me playing aggressive has given me mistakes. I’ve made some mistakes doing that. But those are all learning mistakes and I can continue to grow from those.”
(Would you rather learn like that, by kind of figuring out what you can’t do, versus starting off timid and trying to expand your arsenal?) – “I’d just rather learn in film and not make the mistakes on the field. (laughter) But unfortunately, that’s how it is.”
(On TE Mike Gesicki, in what ways has he helped you?) – “Mike is catching the ball anywhere I throw it to him. I think Mike is a really good leader out there for the guys as well. You can see every time Mike catches the ball, he’s got the little ball spin. He’s got the little trucker horn. I don’t know what that is. (laughter) Maybe you guys can ask Mike for me. He’s very enthusiastic. But yeah, Mike makes my job easier as well as all of the other guys on the offense.”
(I think most quarterbacks would say that footwork is one of the most important elements of the position and it seems like throughout the course of your career, that’s really been one of your mainstays as far as your physical traits go. Just out of curiosity, how would you say your footwork has set you up for success at this level?) – “I think kind of quarterbacking 101 is your feet need to marry up with the route concept. So if you have a 10-yard route, it’s a three-step drop, timing and it’s with no hitch. You kind of base it off of the routes that you have. You’re taking a five-step drop if it’s a deeper route. Then you just kind of marry that into how you feel.”
(When you are in the middle of the play, do you adapt that footwork to adjust what you’re seeing from the defense?) – “Yes. At times, yes. If there’s pressure and you have to get the ball out quick, then obviously you can’t take a three-step or a five-step drop.”
WR Mack Hollins
(I was asking DT Christian Wilkins about this. You’re such an upbeat guy and I wonder sometimes with coaches, when a team is 1-6, they can go one of two ways. They can be super critical or they can try to lift the spirit of the team and say it’s not as bad as it looks. What approach has Head Coach Brian Flores taken?) – “I don’t think ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) has changed. I think, at least for me as a player, how I always like to be coached is somebody who is consistent because if you get a guy that that is an ass when you are losing and is this upbeat guy when you are winning, it turns into poor coaching. And we don’t have that. We have a coach that is going to stay consistent. He’s going to stay on us when we’re losing. He’s going to stay on us when we’re winning. That’s what I like. Obviously I can’t speak for everybody on the team but for me, that encourages me as a player that I’m going to get the same rules when I’m playing really well as when I play poorly.”
(Is that a combination then of honesty in terms of mistakes being made but also some level of upbeatness?) – “Yeah, of course. When you start losing games, it’s easy to get in that sulking ‘boo-hoo’ kind of mood. But it’s important to make sure you still have high energy because once you see the top dog quit, after the lead dog, everybody else is going to follow. He’s continued to stay at a high level so we have to.”
(Without mentioning names, throughout your football playing career at any level, have you had a coach who had that kind of swing?) – “Not from the head coach. I’ve had position coaches when I was younger that if the receiver room does real well, he’s real good win or lose. But we were winning games and they could get washed under the rug. But looking back as a player, it was like, ‘oh, when the receivers played well, coach was happy. We might have lost but coach was happy.’ But that’s just kind of how the business goes, I guess. If you’re doing your job right, you’re kind of happier than if you’re not.”
(You went with a little goal post dunk fake after the score.) – “Yeah. I thought about it. I considered it multiple times on my way over there, especially because it was against the Falcons and I was dunking on them in training camp. But knowing who they had back at returner and knowing the situation of the game, I’m still there. I still got to point at ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and laugh at him because I know he’d be mad if I did dunk it.”
(Do they fine you in-season for the dunks?) – “Yeah, if I touched the goalpost. If I could have went over it – I don’t know. It was the fourth quarter. My legs were kind of heavy. I might not have made it. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.”
(Did you go a little McCringleberry?) – “Yeah, exactly. Just two pumps. I didn’t want to go with a third. (laughter)”
(CB Byron Jones was saying that sometimes when you’re in a losing streak, sometimes the first thing that helps this team turn the season around is to get a win. Obviously easier said than done. But when you’re up against the Bills, who you guys have obviously struggled, is there a little bit of a greater sense of urgency? When you’re going up against a team you maybe more so want to beat, a division rival situations.) – “For me personally, no. I think every week you come out and you have to have a sense of urgency. It kind of goes back to what I was saying about coaching and not going high and low. If you become a player that goes high and low – like ‘oh, we’ve got this team and I have to play real good. Now we have a team whose record is not good, so I’m not going to play as well.’ That’s when you start fluctuating not playing well. When people say you’re playing down to your opponent or people play up to their opponent, it’s usually because they are not preparing at the same level every week. For me, it doesn’t matter who we are preparing against or who we are playing against because as you guys see every week, any team can get beat in this league. That’s why it’s designed to be .500. So yeah, I prepare like we’re playing in the Super Bowl every week.”
(Do you know the next idea for your next TikTok video?) – “I do indeed. And you’ll see it this Friday. (laughter)”
(You played with Buffalo QB Mitch Trubisky in college, so you’ll see him on Sunday. I actually noticed that his career passer rating is 35th all-time in the NFL. So statistically, he hasn’t been as bad as some people in Chicago think. My question is do you think Mitch can actually be a good quarterback in the National Football League moving forward?) – “Yeah, for sure. Like you said, you don’t get to 35th all-time on a fluke, whether you played a long career or not. So I definitely think he has the capability to do it. And obviously I caught some touchdowns (from him) so maybe I’m a little biased. But he can sling it.”
(On QB Tua Tagovailoa) – “Tua is that dude. I wouldn’t lie to you. The hair cut, how he dresses. Did you see the ball he threw in the back of the end zone? Pft, stop playing. He’s got those diamonds in his ears – VV’s. (laughter)”
(How was QB Tua Tagovailoa as Woody?) – “He was great. The cap? I don’t know it was like a Samurai cap. We kind of talked about it. It should have been a five gallon … (laughter)”
(What’s your favorite Halloween candy?) – “I’m a peanut M&M guy.”
(On candy corn) – “Oh no. I mean I’ll eat like one but the whole bowl? (No.)”
(I think you were Bob Ross last year. What do you have this year?) – “I was Bob Ross and E.T. I’ve always got something in the works. I don’t have all of this hair for nothing.”
(Is that what it’s for? October?) – “Yeah. It’s for one day a year. (laughter)”
Head Coach Brian Flores
(A couple of things on the third quarterback and running back. With running back, are you going to basically look at RB Patrick Laird, RB Duke Johnson and RB Gerrid Doaks this weekend and then make a decision on who will replace RB Malcolm Brown on the active list? And then also, with losing QB Reid Sinnett, are you guys looking at a young developmental quarterback on the practice squad or maybe someone with experience who can step in if QB Tua Tagovailoa or QB Jacoby Brissett are injured?) – “So we signed Jake Dolegala. He’s a quarterback from Central Connecticut (State). We signed him this morning to the practice squad. As far as the running backs, you mentioned Laird and you mentioned Doaks. Duke Johnson we just signed to the practice squad also, so we’ll take a look at all of those guys this week. Obviously we have more familiarity with Patrick and Doaks, so we’ll get to know Duke this week and see what that looks like.”
(What do you guys like about RB Duke Johnson?) – “Obviously he’s an experienced player. He’s a good runner, good in the pass game and has been a productive player in the league. A lot of film, a good amount of production over the course of his career. Just kind of looking at the running back situation and what was available, we felt like that was the best that was available.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa is facing the same team that he was injured against. Will there be a mental hurdle involved in that?) – “I don’t think so. I think he’s excited to get out to practice today, to play with his teammates and to compete on Sunday.”
(Where is QB Tua Tagovailoa in relation to the flak jacket? I didn’t notice – was he wearing it this past Sunday and will he continue to wear it if he was?) – “Yeah, he’s been wearing some protection. I can’t – I don’t know the ins and outs of the flak jacket but I’ve had some conversations with (Equipment Manager) Joe Cimino about it. He definitely wears protection around the ribs.”
(During the start of the season, is there something you might have learned about yourself or your coaching staff that you didn’t know before, or taught you a lesson about how to be a better coach?) – “I think you learn stuff every day in this league. I think we’re all learning and we’re all trying to get better on a daily basis. I ask that of the players and I certainly ask that of myself. I think every time I go out there and coach – offense, defense, special teams, situation, game, practice, walkthrough – I’m always looking for a way to get a point across, coach something a little bit better, teach something a little bit better, teach a situation a little bit better, motivate a little bit more. I think that’s kind of an ongoing daily process for me – not just football-wise but really across the board. I just try to get better in every area of my life. I try to talk to our players about doing that. Obviously from a football standpoint but also in other areas.”
(What is your confidence level that WR DeVante Parker will be able to play Sunday?) – “Today we’ll walk through. He’ll be available for the walkthrough, for sure. Hopeful that he can string a couple of good days of practice – Thursday and Friday – and we’ll see if he’s available for the game.”
(It’s the second week in a row that you’re facing a team coming off a bye week. What are kind of the talking points that you emphasize to your players about facing a well-rested team that is eager to go?) – “I think every week there are different challenges. A team coming off a bye, obviously they’ve had some rest and they’ll have energy. Just being on the road and being in that environment, there’s going to be energy in the stadium regardless. But well rested like you mentioned. Should be full of juice and full of energy, but I would expect that from this team or really any team whether they’re coming off a bye or not.”
(Can you update us on OL Greg Mancz and CB Noah Igbinoghene?) – “Both are still getting treatment. Again it’s a walkthrough today so I expect them both to be at the walkthrough. They’re getting better and moving in the right direction.”
(Back to the issue of being well rested. I think there probably was an assumption on my part last week that the walkthrough was because of the London trip. But now we’re still on a Wednesday walkthrough. Is that something that you foresee keeping throughout the rest of the season and if so, what’s the thinking on that?) – “I think it’s week to week. There were some bumps and bruises coming out of the game and just felt like it was in the best interest to get two good days – Thursday and Friday – to take a little bit off of them today.”
(There’s been a lot of talk about one player relative to a trade but just in general, have you made it a point to address the whole group about the looming trade deadline? Not about one player but generally about the trade deadline coming.) – “No, we don’t really talk about – we’re talking about the Bills. We’re talking about the Bills. We’re talking about individually trying to improve and get better in practice. Here are the things we need to do this week against this team. That’s kind of the conversation. There’s no conversation about trade deadlines.”
(Is LB Jerome Baker feeling better? Have you talked to him today? Obviously he’s a big part of your defense.) – “Yeah, he’ll be out there today. He’ll be listed as limited. He’s kind of working through the issue with the injury. Let’s call him day to day. Hopefully he’ll be out there for practice – a true practice – on Thursday.”
(Do you think that the offense is lacking in chunk or explosive plays and if so, what is the key to hitting on those, especially in the second and third quarters where you guys started strong but kind of fizzled out in the middle of games?) – “I think there’s – we’ve moved the ball better the last couple of weeks. We had probably a few more chunk plays the week before than last week. But I thought we moved it pretty efficiently. Obviously not well enough. And then we’ve just got to be more consistent in those in the middle part of the game. But I think overall, I think we’re moving it fairly efficiently and taking what the defense gives us. But we’ve got to do more.”
(What did the film tell you about C Austin Reiter’s performance at center and is he a guy that you might consider keeping in the starting lineup regardless?) – “I thought he did some good things. When you step in and you haven’t played, and then you go in there and play in an NFL game, I thought he did well. I thought his communication was good. I thought his overall understanding of where he needed to be was good. I’m sure there’s – I know there’s some plays that he wishes that he would have blocked a little bit better or protected a little bit better, but overall we were able to run the offense from an o-line standpoint without a huge drop-off. I thought he did a nice job.”
(Knowing you have your focus on the game and not get into the details of what y’all talk about, can you take me through maybe what the process is in-season when you and General Manager Chris Grier talk about transactions or different things involving the 53-man roster?) – “We talk pretty much every day about the roster, inactives, who’s playing, who’s not playing, practice. So it’s really more of a daily conversation. I’m not sure if I’m answering your question, but as far as the process, it’s really a daily process where if something pops on the waiver wire, I may pop in his office, he comes into mine. Practice squad, practice squad protection – it’s not like a once-a-week thing. It’s really every day, and we’re constantly evaluating our team and seeing what else is out there and those are kind of daily conversations.”
(We asked Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer about just overall defensive philosophy and playing more zone as opposed to blitzing less. I wanted to ask you how much is playing young safeties like S Jevon Holland and S Brandon Jones kind of played a role in maybe not blitzing as much and kind of big picture, have you seen defenses tend to kind of favor coverage as opposed to sacrificing that with…) – “I didn’t get the last part…”
(Just big picture, have you kind of seen defenses tend to prioritize coverage more as opposed to blitzing and sacrificing that in coverage?) – “I think it’s really gameplan-specific. I think it’s specific to the situation. It’s kind of a tough question because when to cover, when to blitz, there’s a feel involved there. So it’s obviously part of every gameplan – ‘hey, we’re going to cover them here, we’re going to blitz them here, we’re going to try to pressure them in this situation.’ Score may play a role in that. There’s so many kind of factors. So I think it’s – and obviously the players involved are a part of it as well. Do we think we can get there with a four-man rush, five-man rush? Do we feel like we need to blitz them? There’s so many kind of layers to them. You may want to have a plan to blitz and then you get there on a three-man rush and you say why would I blitz them? And every game is a little bit different. So it’s a tough question. I think you’d have to look at a specific game and say, ‘hey what happened on the last series that made you…’ – there’s a lot that goes into that.”
(What about the zone/man choice? What are some factors that maybe go beyond the obvious when choosing which path to go?) – “Situation. If you want to get on them on first down, if you want to get on them on second-and-whatever, third down, what did you do the last time? There’s a lot of factors. It’s kind of the same as far as calling a game.”
(I asked QB Tua Tagovailoa this after the game and I’m curious in your thoughts. How do you or do you balance kind of the mentality of letting the guys know like, “hey, keep your chin up” but also saying “I’m upset and I’m frustrated, too” when you’re going through a losing streak like this? Is there a balance between kind of making sure you’re on the same page with the players there?) – “I like to think I’m very honest with the guys. That’s kind of been my philosophy and just how I’ll continue to interact with the players. I think these guys work hard. They’re resilient. They give great effort. They should keep their heads up. At the same time, we’ve got to do better and that’s really as direct and honest as I can be and that’s been the message to them. But I also tell them that I’ll be better. And I’m not one to point fingers and try to divide a group. We’re all in this together so that’s kind of the message. I think honesty is always the best way to go. That’s been my overall philosophy and I’ll continue to do that.”
(You talked about being honest with your players. QB Tua Tagovailoa spoke about after the game you being transparent with him with regards to the trade reports. How do you guys kind of just navigate this the final days up until the trade deadline with reports kind of coming out as often as they have been?) – “I mean I don’t really get into rumors. I don’t really pay attention to rumors and hypotheticals and this and that. Tua is our quarterback. I’ve said that multiple times and I’ve said that to him and that’s about as – I try to be honest and transparent with our players and that’s what I’ve been.”
